TAUNTON — Water came up to the doors of vehicles in flooded areas of Taunton after a heavy downpour during Wednesday morning traffic, leaving at least two drivers stranded after their cars stalled out driving through pools of water, according to emergency response officials in the city.

The National Weather Service said that, according to its reading at the Taunton Municipal Airport, the city got 1.96 inches during the latest rainstorm, starting on Tuesday morning and ending with a torrent of rain during the Wednesday morning commute.

The weather service, Taunton police and the Taunton Emergency Management Agency reported major flooding on County Street around 8:30 a.m., forcing police to close part of the road shortly after and set up a detour parallel to it using Johnson Street, from Cumberland Farms to Trucchi’s supermarket.

At 8:40 a.m., a car got stranded in high waters on Forest Street, according to Taunton Fire Department Lt. Jason Boris. The driver had to be helped and the vehicle was towed, Boris said.

Shortly after that, another car got stuck on the side of the road next to Pete’s Mart at 370 County St.

Taunton police released an online advisory telling drivers to be safe, and not to drive “unless absolutely necessary.”

At the Cumberland Farms up the street, Larry Silva watched the effects of the road closure from his window.

“I’ve never seen so many cars go down Johnson Street,” Silva said.

Silva said he saw one man sitting in the parking lot of his store “for over an hour” due to water getting into his air tank.

The road opened up shortly after the rain slowed down at around 10 a.m.

In East Taunton, at 9:32 a.m., Middleboro Avenue near the Berkley line was flooded and was described as “a big lake” by amateur radio operators working with the National Weather Service.

Richard Ferreira, the director of TEMA, said that First and Bridge streets were also sites for flooding in Taunton on Wednesday morning.

Ferreira said that drivers need to be more careful to avoid driving into flooded areas, causing cars to break down.

“They drove through flooded road,” Ferreira said. “That’s what we say as public safety people all the time. Don’t drive through flooded roadways. You could get injured or killed.”

Ferreira said there no serious problems were caused by Wednesday’s flooding, which recessed a few hours later.

Ferreira said that increased drainage at the sites of flooding in Taunton would not be an effective solution to the problem.

“They have so much water, but so much water at the same time,” he said. “It’s impossible. If 20 inches of rain were to drop on Taunton, we’d have had flooding like you couldn’t believe. … That’s always a great question. Can you do anything about it? If you get significant rain, 2 to 3 inches an hour, there’s no way. You can take a look at some of the huge culverts they have in other parts of the country, where people drown in them because they have so much water.”

Page 2 of 2 - Raynham also had signifigant flooding on North Street, where there was 6 inches of water on the road, and on Orchard Street, according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologist Kim Buttrick said that the weather will improve starting today.

“Tomorrow (Thursday) should have noticeable air mass change,” Buttrick said. “There will be lower dew points, and it will feel less humid, and will be dry. Temperatures will be in seasonable levels in high- and low-80s and may get some sunshine in the afternoon.”